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Swan Song
Swan Song Episode Number: Season 5, Episode 11 Directed By: Gwyneth Horder-Payton Air Date: December 6, 2015 Previous Episode: Broken Heart Next Episode Souls of the Departed "Swan Song" is the eleventh episode and midseason finale of Season 5 of the American fairytale/drama series Once Upon a Time, which aired on December 6, 2015. In this episode, Hook and the Dark Ones try to take over Storybrooke, but in the end Hook redeems, and dies. Also in the end, Emma, her parents, Regina, Robin, Henry, and Mr. Gold go to the Underworld to bring back Hook. In flashbacks, Hook is reunited with his father. Plot 'Opening Sequence' The cloaked forms of 11 resurrected Dark Ones are featured in the forest. 'Event Chronology' The Enchanted Forest flashbacks with young Killian take place years before "The Brothers Jones" and the Enchanted Forest flashback with Hook and The Evil Queen take place during "Queen of Hearts", before Hook leaves for Wonderland. The Storybrooke events take place after "Broken Heart" and before "Devil's Due". The final scene where everyone leaves for the Underworld, takes place after the scene where Mr. Gold says goodbye to Belle in "Souls of the Departed". 'In the Character's Past' On board the Jolly Roger, a young Killian is consoled by his father, Brennan, who promised his son that he would become the person that he meant to be, only to suddenly abandon him and his brother, as he sold his sons into servitude, because Brennan was a wanted man and the ship was stolen. Years later in the Enchanted Forest, Regina recruits Hook to kill Cora, and takes Hook to a tavern, where she requires Hook to kill his father, who is now the tavern's owner. After the tavern closes, Hook confronts Brennan, who explains that his attempt to flee the law failed and was put under a sleeping curse as punishment; Brennan fell in love with the sound of his nurse's voice and she with him, allowing a kiss to wake him. They married, but she died soon after having their son, who was named after Liam, to honor his memory. Believed that Brennan has changed, Hook has to make it look like he had his father killed, so he can help his father and Liam escape. When Hook follows Brennan back to his home, he watches him with Liam, and witnesses his father telling Liam the same things he told Hook when he was little, which makes Hook very enraged, thinking that his father lied about having changed. When Brennan goes outside to meet Hook, he takes back his offer, and despite Brennan's insistence that he had changed, Hook kills Brennan, making Hook the person he is now. As Brennan dies, however, he tells Hook that it's never too late to change, to become a better man. 'Storybrooke' Hook, remembers about the last time he saw his father, when Gold arrives to confront him but Hook is steadfast in carrying out his plan. Meanwhile, Emma is determined to stop Hook and everyone follows her and tell the others to split up. Regina and Robin then run into Zelena, who vows to get custody of her daughter, only to be confronted by a group of Dark Ones who then place a mark on Emma's family and friends in a similar fashion. Gold explains to Emma that it is the Mark of Charon, who navigates the ferry to the Underworld. The Dark Ones plan to sacrifice the souls of the marked living, who will replace them in Hell. Regina confronts Hook at the docks to remind him about what happened back in the Enchanted Forest, but Hook chokes her, saying times have changed. At Granny’s, Mary Margaret, David, and Henry choose to spend their last hours alive, while Emma reveals her plan to Regina that she wants to sacrifice herself of the darkness inside. Gold then hands over Excalibur to Emma and arranges for Belle to escape town and live her life. Regina and Robin then confront Zelena again, only to have Regina use Merlin's Wand to conjure up a magic tornado to send Zelena to Oz, with Zelena vowing to return. Emma prepares her plan to confront Hook, who appears at her house, but he has the upper hand after he transforms into Henry, fooling her into handing over Excalibur, which leaves her defenseless. The 20 past Dark Ones, led by Nimue, bring the residents to the lake that will take them to the Underworld, and act as a barrier to keep them from escaping. Hook appears to help Nimue carry out the plan as Emma is left to watch. Regina then reminds Hook that he is unable to destroy Emma's family because he has changed as a person, and urges him to choose what kind of person he wants to be. Emma attempts to stop the Dark Ones from sacrificing her family, but Nimue starts choking Emma, despite being unable to kill her, to keep her from interfering. As Hook watches, he realizes the truth behind what Regina said, and uses Excalibur to absorb all of the darkness from Nimue and the Dark Ones into himself, which also traps all of the past Dark Ones inside Excalibur. Hook then asks Emma to kill him to destroy the darkness, in order to allow him to die as a hero. A sad, crying Emma goes through with his wishes and kills Hook with Excalibur, which kills all of the previous Dark Ones. As Hook dies, his neck wound from Excalibur returns, and Emma is transformed back into her normal self, with Excalibur disintegrating afterwards. The next day, Belle returns to Gold and forgives. However, after Emma hears the whispers of the dagger, she meets with Gold, who reveals the truth to Emma, about him using a magic potion to turn Excalibur into a conduit, so that when Emma killed all of the Dark Ones, their magic was transferred into Gold, allowing Gold to reclaim his life as the Dark One, and creating a new dagger in the process. He adds that he is more powerful than ever before, since he now wields the combined power of every Dark One that ever lived including her. Emma is very cross about this and tells him that she now has leverage over Gold, threatening to tell Belle at any moment the truth about her husband. In exchange for Emma keeping the secret, Gold agrees to help her enter the Underworld to rescue Hook. At the lake, Emma is joined by Gold, Regina, Mary Margaret, David, Robin, and Henry, as they approach the ferry to descend into the Underworld. Cast Starring *Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard *Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan *Lana Parrilla as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills *Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David Nolan/Prince James *Emilie de Ravin as Belle *Colin O'Donoghue as Hook *Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills *Rebecca Mader as The Wicked Witch/Zelena *Sean Maguire as Robin Hood *Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold Guest Starring *Beverley Elliot as Granny *Caroline Ford as Nimue *Lee Arenberg as Grumpy/Leroy *Eric Keenleyside as Sir Maurice/Moe French *Adam Croasdell as Brennan Jones *Faustino di Bauda as Sleepy/Walter *Gabe Khouth as Sneezy/Tom Clark *Michael Coleman as Happy *David Paul Grove as Doc *Mig Macario as Bashful *Oliver Bell as Young Killian Trivia Production Notes= *The title card features a group of Dark Ones. *The title of this episode was announced by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on October 17, 2015. *The swan song is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song in the moment just before death, having been silent (or alternatively, not so musical) during most of their lifetime. This belief, whose basis in actuality is long-debated, had become proverbial in Ancient Greece by the 3rd century BC, and was reiterated many times in later Western poetry and art. *The computer-generated opening shot with the ship being tossed about by the waves on the stormy sea is exactly the same shot that was used in the opening scene with Gerda's ship in "A Tale of Two Sisters". *Andre Tricoteux, who plays the Massive Brawler, also plays Argyle in the episode "Tiny". *Charon's mark is shaped like a beetle, but has the wings of a fly. *As Hook is collapsing, you can see him reach past Emma's head and weakly point in the direction of Mr. Gold, a subtle clue that everything is not as it seems. *The shot of Charon coming through the portal in the Storybrooke Heritage Park is stock footage from "The Price", but with a different color hue. |-|Other Notes= FILMING LOCATIONS *The cabin where young Killian and Liam are sleeping, is a redressed version of the cabin aboard the Jolly Roger from "The Cricket Game", "The Outsider", "And Straight On 'Til Morning" and "The Heart of the Truest Believer". However, Edward Kitsis has specified that it is not the same ship as the Jolly Roger. *The scenes by the duck pond were filmed by the Upper Pond in Burnaby's Central Park. *The exterior of Brennan's cottage is a redressed version of The Apprentice's cottage from previous episodes. *The wooden floor on The Apprentice's front porch is replaced by a stone floor, and climbing plants have been added to the walls, to make the cottage look different; however, the architecture, the window panes and the pattern of the brick stones (the ones around the window are easiest to compare) are a giveaway. The same set doubles as the exterior of The Woodcutter's cottage in "Sisters". Although the cottage was heavily redressed to double as The Woodcutter's home (most noticeably, the roof of his cottage has a completely different shape, and the chimney is in a different position), the door, the window panes and the pattern of the brick stones (again, the ones around the window are easiest to compare) are the same.